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SEOUL : Bird flu has spread in South Korea to a fifth farm, officials said Saturday, despite stepped up government efforts to contain outbreaks of the deadly virus in recent weeks.
The agriculture ministry said bird flu has been discovered in a village within a 10-kilometre quarantine zone established after a previous outbreak on a chicken farm last month.
"Test results confirmed breeding chickens at a poultry farm at Punge village were infected with high pathological bird flu virus," the ministry said in a statement.
Officials have ordered culling of thousands of chickens on the farm and area surrounding the village near the central city of Cheonan, 90 kilometers (56 miles) south of Seoul.
"Immediate culling of 270,000 birds within a radius of 500 meters from the farm was ordered," the ministry said, adding that movement of birds and eggs within a 10-kilometre radius was banned.
The ministry blamed migrating wild geese for spreading the highly contagious virus saying the strain was the same as one found among wild birds in northeastern China.
"High pathological AI (avian influenza) virus was confirmed in wild birds' excrement sampled near the same farm in Pungse village and around Miho stream, some 20 kilometers off," it said.
"Once again, the ministry calls on poultry farms to take measures to keep wild birds off and urges restraint in visiting wild birds' resting places," it said.
Officials have slaughtered some 1.2 million birds at farms near the southern cities of Iksan, Gimje and Asan after the country's first case of bird flu in almost three years was confirmed on November 25.
South Korea was hit hard by bird flu between December 2003 and March 2004, prompting the cull of 5.3 million poultry costing about one billion dollars.
Bird flu has killed more than 150 people worldwide since late 2003 and there remain fears it may become a far more highly contagious disease that could trigger a deadly, global pandemic. - AFP /dt
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